show us your Mile Highs (Edgar Church copies) 7 7

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

@adamstrange, that’s an interesting, non-traditional war cover

[143ksk]

Don't think I've posted this one yet.

[Straw-Man]

oh, my on the headline 11.

Edited September 24, 2020 by Straw-Man

[LDarkseid1]

Not the prettiest due to the mis-cut, but here’s my entry. I tried to reason with CGC to update the label for this that it's the 1st gorilla cover in comics or 1st comic to showcase a gorilla on the cover, however you want to say it. There's a fun backstory online with the history of the book, and how this comic made it popular going forward to put gorillas on covers. Alas, I lost the battle for that lol. I may be reaching haha, but I choose to believe you could make an argument that this book paved the way for the creation of the DC villain, Gorilla Grodd. Just my .02.

Edited September 24, 2020 by LDarkseid1

[Timely]

1st gorilla cover in comics?  More like the 200th.  Action Comics #6 has this beat by 13 years or so

[Timely]

1 hour ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Not the prettiest due to the mis-cut, but here’s my entry. I tried to reason with CGC to update the label for this that it's the 1st gorilla cover in comics or 1st comic to showcase a gorilla on the cover, however you want to say it. There's a fun backstory online with the history of the book, and how this comic made it popular going forward to put gorillas on covers. Alas, I lost the battle for that lol. I may be reaching haha, but I choose to believe you could make an argument that this book paved the way for the creation of the DC villain, Gorilla Grodd. Just my .02.

 

[LDarkseid1]

33 minutes ago, Timely said:

 

Aww damn, well that puts a stinker in my case lol. I guess SA8 was more about making it a popular thing to do. I googled first gorilla comic book cover and Action 6 didn't pop up, nor other earlier books but clearly my key word search didn't produce the best results. I could still make the case for 1st sci-fi gorilla cover .

https://comicsalliance.com/history-gorillas-comic-books/

The real turning point for gorillas, the year that really made them a star, was 1951. This was the year that Strange Adventures #8 came out, featuring the story “The Incredible Story of an Ape With a Human Brain.” At this time, editors were anxious to grab on to any trend they could that would increase sales (plus ça change...), and apparently Strange Adventures #8 sold pretty well. Legendary DC editor Julius Schwartz once recalled that “[DC editorial director] Irwin Donenfeld called me in and said we should try it again. Finally all the editors wanted to use gorilla covers, and he said no more than one a month."

Soon they were pushing that “one gorilla a month” rule to the limit. DC's sci-fi/fantasy/horror titles such as Strange Adventures and Tales of the Unexpected have since become notorious for their gorilla covers. Even in this not-quite-Silver Age era, superheroes were getting into the gorilla mix, with Batman fighting the Gorilla Boss of Gotham in Batman #75 (1953), Superboy battling Kingorilla in Adventure Comics #196 (1954), and Wonder Woman, uh, playing baseball with one in Wonder Woman #78 (1955).

Edited September 24, 2020 by LDarkseid1

[Timely]

14 minutes ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Aww damn, well that puts a stinker in my case lol. I guess SA8 was more about making it a popular thing to do. I googled first gorilla comic book cover and Action 6 didn't pop up, nor other earlier books but clearly my key word search didn't produce the best results. I could still make the case for 1st sci-fi gorilla cover .

https://comicsalliance.com/history-gorillas-comic-books/

The real turning point for gorillas, the year that really made them a star, was 1951. This was the year that Strange Adventures #8 came out, featuring the story “The Incredible Story of an Ape With a Human Brain.” At this time, editors were anxious to grab on to any trend they could that would increase sales (plus ça change...), and apparently Strange Adventures #8 sold pretty well. Legendary DC editor Julius Schwartz once recalled that “[DC editorial director] Irwin Donenfeld called me in and said we should try it again. Finally all the editors wanted to use gorilla covers, and he said no more than one a month."

Soon they were pushing that “one gorilla a month” rule to the limit. DC's sci-fi/fantasy/horror titles such as Strange Adventures and Tales of the Unexpected have since become notorious for their gorilla covers. Even in this not-quite-Silver Age era, superheroes were getting into the gorilla mix, with Batman fighting the Gorilla Boss of Gotham in Batman #75 (1953), Superboy battling Kingorilla in Adventure Comics #196 (1954), and Wonder Woman, uh, playing baseball with one in Wonder Woman #78 (1955).

Maybe 1st sci-fi gorilla, not sure.  I know fiction house used a lot of animals on their titles, Jumbo, Jungle, Kaanga, Wambi, etc...  Fox also like using Gorillas, such as Wonder Comics #2 from 1939.

 

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by Timely

[LDarkseid1]

4 minutes ago, Timely said:

Maybe 1st sci-fi gorilla, not sure.  I know fiction house used a lot of animals on their titles, Jumbo, Jungle, Kaanga, Wambi, etc...  Fox also like using Gorillas, such as Wonder Comics #2 from 1939.

 

 

Well sir, you've definitely made me feel pretty stupid lol. I guess It will stay a cool story for the book itself, and nothing more.

[Timely]

It is cool!  I used to own the MH copy of Strange Adventures #3.  Love those books!

 

[adamstrange]

2 hours ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Not the prettiest due to the mis-cut, but here’s my entry. I tried to reason with CGC to update the label for this that it's the 1st gorilla cover in comics or 1st comic to showcase a gorilla on the cover, however you want to say it. There's a fun backstory online with the history of the book, and how this comic made it popular going forward to put gorillas on covers. Alas, I lost the battle for that lol. I may be reaching haha, but I choose to believe you could make an argument that this book paved the way for the creation of the DC villain, Gorilla Grodd. Just my .02.

 

According to Julie Schwartz, this is the cover that started the "intelligent" gorilla cover theme for DC.  There was a sales uptick that editors/publisher noticed that caused them to include gorillas across most of their line.  It couldn't be just any gorilla randomly included but rather sales increased when it was a gorilla that could think.

[LDarkseid1]

7 minutes ago, Timely said:

It is cool!  I used to own the MH copy of Strange Adventures #3.  Love those books!

 

That's awesome! Would love to get my hands on that copy!!!

[Randall Dowling]

3 hours ago, LDarkseid1 said:

Well sir, you've definitely made me feel pretty stupid lol. I guess It will stay a cool story for the book itself, and nothing more.

FWIW, @Timely (among others here) has forgotten more about comics than most here will ever know.  

[LDarkseid1]

39 minutes ago, Randall Dowling said:

FWIW, @Timely (among others here) has forgotten more about comics than most here will ever know.  

I don’t doubt it.

[Robot Man]

From the penthouse to the outhouse...

[EC Star&Bar]

On 9/22/2020 at 10:05 PM, valiantman said:

According to Chuck Rozanski, Church bought some of his oldest comics used, and that appears to be the case here.  Nice book of course.

Edited September 25, 2020 by EC Star&Bar

[adamstrange]

[adamstrange]

[Straw-Man]

lovely.

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by Straw-Man

[Crowzilla]

On 9/24/2020 at 6:37 PM, Robot Man said:

From the penthouse to the outhouse...

You see a book like that and think, this is what Chuck based his offer for the entire collection on. Overpay on Bob Colt and then find out you get an Action 1-100 to make up for it.